The present disclosure relates generally to methods for activating carbon charcoal and, more particularly, to activating carbon charcoal resulting from biomass gasification without the use of an external heat source, heat treatment, and/or heat recovery.
At least some known gasification systems are integrated with at least one power producing turbine system. Many of such systems include a gasifier that creates a combustible gas or a combustible gas precursor, that undergoes additional processing into a combustible gas, referred to as “producer gas”. One common source of producer gas or precursor feedstock is biomass material, as the use of biomass material reduces the dependency on other sources of producer gas feedstock, such as fossil fuel-based feedstocks including coal, and/or coke, for example.
In use, the gasifier creates producer gas through a pyrolysis reaction, whereby air is injected into the gasifier to completely burn the biomass material to charcoal. The charcoal may then be activated and used for decolorization purposes, purification of gases, adsorption of vapors, and purification of water, for example. Conventionally, activation of charcoal is typically accomplished via chemical or physical/thermal processes. For example, in thermal activation, an external heat source (e.g., a burner, or a reactor) heats the carbon-based charcoal material, thereby burning the carbon and increasing its porosity.
This activation process can increase the marketable value of charcoal when compared to inactivated charcoal. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide alternative methods for activating the charcoal resulting from biomass gasification that are more efficient and economical. More particularly, it would be desirable to utilize heat generated internally within the biomass gasification system to activate charcoal, thereby increasing the value of biomass gasification with minimal investment in the process.